1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of accessing and processing digital video on a network such as the Internet. More particularly, the invention relates to providing efficient end user access to media content through community building mechanisms.
2. Description of the Related Technology
A number of techniques have evolved in recent years as the Internet has grown in size and sophistication, including:                The use of web servers and HTML delivery to web browsers.        The use of the application-server model for connecting database information with web pages and interactive interfaces for end users.        The use of dynamically generated HTML that pulls information from a database to dynamically format HTML for delivery to the end user.        The use of a template language to merge database output with pre-formatted HTML presentations.        The use of ‘cookies’ to track individual user preferences as they interact with the web pages and applications.        The use of messaging and chat technology.        The use of HTTP and FTP transfer protocols to upload video content to a website.These and other related web technologies and techniques are in commonplace use and readily accessible on the Internet.        
In addition to theses technologies, video indexing technology has also emerged, herein referred to as ‘video logging’. Video logging is a process that incorporates both automated indexing and manual annotation facilities to create a rich, fine-grained (in a temporal sense) index into a body of video content. The index typically consists of a combination of visual and textual indices that permit time-based searching of video content. The index may incorporate spoken text, speaker identifications, facial identifications, on-screen text, and additional annotations, keywords, and descriptions that may be applied by a human user executing the video logging application. The Virage VideoLogger is one example of this type of video logging technology that is commercially available.
The delivery of streaming media on the Internet typically involves the encoding of video content into one or more encoded video formats and efficient delivery of that content for display to the end users. Common streaming formats presently in use include RealVideo, Microsoft Windows Media, QuickTime, and MPEG. The video logging technology may coordinate the encoding of one or more of these formats while the video is being indexed to ensure that the video index is time-synchronized with the encoded content. The final delivery of streaming media content for display to an end user is typically accomplished with a wide variety of video serving mechanisms and infrastructure. These mechanisms may include basic video servers (such as those from Real, Microsoft, or Apple), caching appliances (such as those from CacheFlow, Network Appliance, Inktomi, or Cicso), and content distribution networks (herein “CDN's”, such as those from Akamai, Digital Island, iBeam, or Adero). These types of video serving mechanisms ultimately deliver media content for display to the end user.
In an Internet/World Wide Web environment, companies frequently attempt to generate revenue though advertising and e-commerce within their website. Whether selling products, services, or advertising, many attempt to build community, which refers to increasing the number of visitors to a site, the number of repeat visitors, and the average visitation time, as a way to be commercially successful. Increased visitors, repeat visitors, and increased visitation time contribute to revenue streams derived from standard web-related advertising models. Additionally, such increased visitation propensities also allow more numerous and frequent opportunities for e-commerce products and services.
Therefore, what is needed in the technology is a system that provides community-oriented websites the capability to achieve their community building goals by exploiting video processing capabilities using rich and interactive media content. Moreover, compelling video content may be used to create websites that form communities of individuals with a common interest or set of interests. Video can play a central role in the website community if certain mechanisms are provided to the members of the community. Therefore, what is additionally needed in the technology is a system that provides such website community building mechanisms to community members, which may be used to build the actual community websites that many companies and website owners seek in order to enhance e-commerce revenue generation.